Levi’s Bergh’s Compensation Drops in 2013

The executive saw his total compensation slip, while the cash portion of his pay package rose almost 30 percent to $3.5 million.

Chip Bergh, president and chief executive officer of Levi Strauss & Co., saw his total compensation slip by more than a quarter in 2013 while the cash portion of his pay package rose almost 30 percent to $3.5 million.

Bergh, who joined Levi’s in September 2011, saw his salary grow 3.3 percent to $1.2 million last year and his cash bonus — or nonequity incentive plan compensation — grow 50.5 percent to $2.3 million, putting the total amount of his cash compensation for the year at $3.5 million, 29.5 percent above the $2.7 million collected in 2012.

His option awards slid 42.7 percent to $5.8 million from $10.2 million in the prior year, while other compensation rose 75.1 percent to $248,000 from $142,000, putting his total reported compensation for the year at $9.6 million, 26.4 percent below the 2012 level of $13 million. Because of vesting schedules and other factors, option awards aren’t necessarily received by the executive but are reported at grant date fair value.

Despite a decline in fourth-quarter profits, Levi’s last year recorded a 59.3 percent increase in full-year net income, to $229.2 million, on a 1.6 percent revenue rise to $4.68 billion. Bergh noted when the company reported fourth-quarter results last month that 2013 was the first year in five in which Levi’s “delivered operating profit and sales growth at the same time.”

In its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, Levi’s also reported compensation for other executive officers. Harmit Singh, who joined the firm as chief financial officer in January 2013, earned $2.9 million, while Anne Rohosy, president of the Americas region, made $2.7 million. James Curleigh, who joined the firm in July 2012 as president of the global Levi’s brand, earned $2.2 million, and Roy Bagattini, brought in as president of the Asia-Pacific region in June, brought in $2.1 million. As new employees last year, Singh and Bagattini received sign-on bonuses of $250,000 and $254,000, respectively.

Singh, Rohosy, Curleigh and Bagattini all serve as executive vice presidents of the San Francisco-based corporation.

Separately, Levi’s reported to the SEC that Kevin Wilson, its interim cfo prior to Singh’s appointment, had resigned from the firm, effective March 18. Wilson, formerly cfo of the global Dockers brand, began supervising Levi’s finances after the September 2012 departure of cfo Blake Jorgensen.